


Eden's Crush

by MaybeItWasMemphis



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Lemon, Light Dom/sub, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22287865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeItWasMemphis/pseuds/MaybeItWasMemphis
Summary: What happens when a fanfiction writer finds herself the target of her subject’s interest?This is a re-write of an earlier, deleted story of mine for a different fandom.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Disney owns Marvel just like it does everything else these days. I have nothing to do with it. 
> 
> Author’s Note: This is alternate universe big time, ladies and gentlemen. Pepper Potts doesn’t exist in this particular sandbox, and Loki wasn’t taken back to Asgard after the events of the first Avengers’ movie. Instead, he’s on a permanent time-out with the Avengers. I did this because I might be bringing back another old story of mine with a different cast of (Marvel) characters.

__

_“Together, we form a necessary paradox, not a senseless contradiction.”_

**\- Criss Jami, Healology**

Tony walked through the doors of his lab in the _Avengers’ Tower_ half-asleep. He had spent most of the previous night repairing a glitch in J.A.R.V.I.S.’ programming that had the AI doing some incredibly odd things. When he had arrived home the previous day, he had found his lights bling on and off to the beat of Britney Spears’ song _Toxic_ which was blaring so loudly that all of California had probably heard it. When he had entered his home, he had found one of his Iron Man suits doing laps around his kitchen island. It had been an easy, but long, fix, and he hadn’t gotten to bed until almost three in the morning, only to have to get up at six to head to New York. Ever since their adventure with Loki in New York City, _S.H.I.E.L.D._ had made a point of keeping at least two or three _Avengers_ on-call in the tower at all times, or, at least, whenever possible. It was Tony’s turn in the tower for forty-eight hours, where he would be joined by an unusually full house that included Bruce, Natasha, Thor, and Loki. Bruce had wanted to get some research done in the tower, so he wasn’t there on-call, and Loki was always there. Loki was now, more or less, a ward of his elder brother and _S.H.I.E.L.D_. After the incident in New York, Loki had been given a choice – lifetime imprisonment on Asgard or a lifetime of service to _S.H.I.E.L.D._ and the _Avengers._ Loki had chosen the _Avengers_ – mostly to keep away from the wrath of Odin.

Upon arriving in his lap, he noticed Bruce, Natasha, and Loki huddle around a laptop computer. Bruce was laughing uncomfortably. Natasha’s face was beet red. Loki was almost crying; he was laughing so hard. Thor, on the other hand, was standing with his back to the screen, and his arms crossed over his chest. He was refusing to turn back around.

Setting his coffee down on a lab counter, Tony walked over to check out what his teammates were up to. “Do I even wanna know what the three of you are looking at?” He leaned against the table they were all gathered around. “And what has Thor so scandalized?”

“This is the best thing I’ve seen in ages,” Loki clapped his hands together.

“It’s indecent,” Thor growled.

It was Bruce who eventually answered him. “No, you really don’t want to know. Trust me, Tony, I wish I didn’t know.”

“What the big guy said,” Natasha agreed as she slowly started to turn back to her normal pale color.

“Bullocks,” Loki disagreed. “I think we should do a mass print out and hand them out to the public. Who knew that Thor and I weren’t the only gods here?”

“Shut up, Loki,” Thor warned.

Tony was lost. “Print out what? And who’s a god around here besides you and Point Break?”

“Why you are!” Loki was much enjoying whatever was going on, which never bode well for anything or anyone. “If this fanfiction writer is to be believed, you, Mr. Stark, are a sex god!”

“I’m a what now?”

Bruce turned the computer so Tony could see the screen. They were on a website called _Wattpad,_ and they were reading the stories of a fanfiction writer who went by the nom de plume _Eden’sCrush1287_ …and she only wrote stories about him…and they were all marked with a ‘MATURE’ tag.

“Seriously?” He pretended not to care while at the same time clicking out of the webpage. “Are you children?”

“No, but I do love mischief,” Loki smirked.

Tony felt compelled to confiscate the laptop. Even he wasn’t narcissistic enough to be comfortable with his friends and the pain in the ass god of mischief reading this kind of crap about him.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony wasn’t narcissistic enough to allow the other _Avengers_ (and Loki) to read fanfiction about him, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t read it. The stories were written about him. He had a right to be curious. Besides, he was only planning on reading a couple while he watched the news in bed. Then he would shut off his tablet and go to sleep.

As Tony started reading the first story, the TV was playing a news report about the President and his family.

_*** “The President announced today his intention to run for a second term in office. Joining President Cooper when he made this announcement were both of his daughters, Eden Cooper, and her younger sister, Angel. When asked by a reporter if she intended to join her father on the campaign trail this time around, Eden shared that she would make some appearances but that her main focus was on her work for the Cooper Foundation. The Cooper Foundation provides assistance to anyone affected by the Battle of New York in incident…” ***_

Four hours later, and Tony could barely keep his eyes open. He was beyond ensnared by this writer. He read four of her stories back to back, and she had captured the essence of his perfect woman, well, perfectly. All of her female characters were strong, independent, highly intelligent, and absolutely fierce when they had to be. They were also warm, loving, and loyal. The looks of her characters drastically changed from one story to the next, but Tony could see himself being attracted to anyone of them. This writer also didn’t go for the fairy tale happily ever after myth. She was smart, and she knew that everything wasn’t all roses after a couple got together. She got it. She knew that true happily ever after was really just the little moments a couple shared together in-between real life.

In the top right-hand corner of the author’s profile, he found a drop-down menu that gave him the option to contact the author. Tony clicked on it.

**_*** I absolutely love your Tony Stark stories. You seem to have crafted his perfect woman in every single one. Kudos for that. ***_ **

He hit the send button before he had time to really think his actions through. As he finally laid down to sleep, an image of Steve hitting him upside his head for his stupidity flashed in front of his closed eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Eden woke up with a pounding headache and kind of wishing that she was dead so that the pain would stop. That was the last time that she let Angel mic the drinks on girl’s night. There was always more Jack than Coke in her kid sister’s Jack and Cokes. She rolled over and looked at the alarm clock. 11:55 AM.

Eden was suddenly wide awake. She quickly threw back her rose-patterned comforter and jumped out of bed. Her mother was going to murder her. She had already missed Sunday Mass, and in five minutes, she was going to be late for Sunday brunch with her parents. Why the hell hadn’t Angel woken her up?

Eden was pulling a blue lace sundress over her head as she made her way into the living room of the house that she shared with her 20-year-old sister. Said sister was lounging on the couch in sweatpants and a tank top and giving her a bizarre look…not that Eden noticed. She was still too annoyed and incredibly hungover.

“Why the _hell_ didn’t you wake me up?!” Eden snapped as she struggled to zip up the side of her dress. “And why aren’t you dressed? Mother is going to kill us if we’re late for brunch after we’ve already missed church.”

“Because it’s Saturday, dumbass, not Sunday.” Angel started laughing.

Eden stopped her rush to get dressed and glared at her hysterically laughing sister. “I really hate you right now.” She walked back into her room and slammed the door shut. She stripped out of the dress and pulled on her favorite pair of sweatpants with the _Stark Industries_ logo on the leg and a white tank top. Grabbing her laptop off her desk, she climbed back in her bed. As she booted the computer up, her bedroom door opened, and Angel entered carrying a tray bearing coffee, orange juice, aspirin, and a plain bagel.

“Peace offering?” Angel smirked.

“Thanks,” Eden grumbled. She still wasn’t in much of a good mood. In fact, she was barely ever in a good mood anymore.

“You know that I’m not the bad guy here, right?” Angel took a seat on the bed beside her after depositing the tray on the nightstand. “I’m totally on your side. The spotlight Mother and Dad put on us gets to me too.”

Eden softened up a bit at that. Angel had a good point. “I know.” She grabbed the orange juice off the tray and took a sip. Turning her attention back to her laptop, she logged into her Wattpad account.

“You know the way you obsess over him is the same way you hate people obsessing over you, right?” Angel asked sagely as she pointed to the picture of Tony Stark that Eden used as her avatar.

Eden didn’t respond. Her sister was right, of course. But, at least, Tony Stark chose to be famous. Eden most certainly had not chosen her fame. It had been thrust upon her at birth. She had been born to a first-term Democratic senator from North Carolina. Her father had then spent the next twenty-five years steadily climbing the political ranks…until her for President of the United States when Eden was twenty-five and Angel, seventeen...and he had won.

Eden’s father was President John Cooper. In her third year of his first term in office, he was highly rated in the opinion polls and looked like a shoo-in for reelection.

Most people would feel proud and privileged to live the life that she led. She was the daughter of a well-respected president, had grown up in the lap of luxury, had attended the best schools in the country, and was in her second year working as the head of the family’s charitable foundation. It was a position that paid her six figures.

Eden _was_ proud of her father, and she knew she had a good life. She _was_ thankful for that. What she wasn’t grateful for was the press intrusion into her life. From the first days of her father’s first run for president, cameras had followed Eden’s every move. Angel had been spared in those early days because she was still a minor, and that meant that she was given a Secret Service detail of her own until she turned eighteen. Eden had been too old at twenty-five to legally qualify for Secret Service protection. The press coverage only increased after her father’s landslide win. It felt like she couldn’t go anywhere without a photographer following her. At first, she had tried to live as normal a life as possible. She had stayed in her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. She worked as a fundraiser for the N _orth Carolina Public School System._ She avoided moving until the press intrusion became too much to bear. Her mother, in a rare moment of parental warmth, had taken pity on her and offered her the job of running the family charity foundation that her parents had set up after the Battle of New York. Eden had jumped at the offer and moved into the elite and private Georgetown area of Washington, D.C.

Life was about as normal as it was going to get until her father finally retired from public life, and the American public finally figured out that Eden and Angel weren’t the second comings of Jackie and Ethel Kennedy.

To cope with her stress level, Eden had developed a fascination – obsession, if you believed Angel – with Tony Stark, the uber-wealthy, slightly narcissistic businessman who fought with the Avengers as Iron Man. An amateur writer since elementary school, Eden had joined the ranks of online writers who wrote and posted stories commonly referred to as fanfiction. All of her stories were centered around Tony Stark, and Eden didn’t care if some people found it strange. Sometimes her stories were the only thing that kept her sane in a world that she felt that she had no control in.

Noticing that her inbox had a red dot over it, indicating that she a private message, Eden clicked on it. No one ever private messaged her…because she kind of had a reputation online as being cold and short-tempered even though she didn’t mean to be. She was just incredibly socially awkward. The message was kind of weird, the sender (StarkIndustriesCEO) speaking as though he or she actually knew what kind of woman Tony Stark would be into to.

Eden sent a polite (she hoped) and short ‘Thank you so much.’ and signed out of her account. Grabbing the aspirin off the tray that Angel had delivered, she popped three into her mouth, washing them down with the rest of her orange juice. “I still hate you for this hangover,” she jokingly glared at Angel.

Angel laughed. “Hey, I just mixed the drinks. You’re the one who drank them.”


	4. Chapter 4

Eden returned home from a tiring day at the office to find her house empty. This wasn’t unusual. Angel usually had class until at least six on Fridays. Changing into sweats, she made her way into the kitchen and began rummaging in the junk drawer. She found the take-out menu for the local Mexican restaurant that she and Angel favored and ordered dinner for the two of them. At least one of the sisters really needed to learn how to cook, this take-out habit of theirs was becoming expensive. One of the downsides to growing up with maids, chauffeurs, and private chefs was that you left home utterly ignorant of the life skills needed to survive in the real world. Both sisters had required at least two tries to past their driver’s tests. At least they were both neat freaks, so they knew how to clean and did it often. 

After her chore was completed, Eden retrieved her laptop out of her room and settled in on the living room couch to update a couple of her stories on Wattpad, her favorite writing website. She was surprised to find another private message from _StarkIndustriesCEO_ , the same person from the day before. 

_*** Well. That was a rather short response. Why so unfriendly? ***_

She had been perfectly polite! Annoyed, she sent a response.

_*** I’m sorry if you felt like I was rude. What else did you expect me to say? How would you even know what Tony Stark’s perfect woman was like anyway? If you want me to be honest, all of my characters are just different variations of myself, and, trust me, Tony Stark would never go for me. ***_

Rather forcefully, she hit the send button just as the front door opened. Angel was home. 

Angel was holding a plastic take-out bag as she set her purse on the entryway table. “Ran into the delivery guy outside,” she turned and dangled the bag in Eden’s direction. “Either this is ours or…I just stole one of the neighbor’s dinner.”

Eden laughed. “It’s ours,” she said, getting up and taking the bag from Angel. She led her sister into the kitchen and was in the process of unpacking the take-out bag on the counter when she felt her cellphone vibrating in her back pocket. Taking it out, she found a notification from her Wattpad app. _StarkIndustriesCEO_ had sent her another message. Rolling her eyes, she opened it.

_*** I know what kind of woman Tony Stark prefers…because I AM Tony Stark, toots. ***_

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

***

In New York City, alone in his room in Avengers Tower, Tony was staring at his tablet screen in shock. Had he really been stupid enough to send that message? What the hell was he thinking?!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rather short chapter, I’m afraid, but the chapters will start getting longer soon.

“What the fuck?!”

Angel looked up at her sister in alarm, her sudden outburst having taken her by surprise.

Eden passed her sister her phone, so Angel could read the private message for herself. Angel took a moment to read it before she said anything. “It’s probably just some bored troll with too much time on their hands. I’ll get rid of them for you.” She quickly composed a response and hit the send button. “There. I can almost guarantee that you will never hear from whoever that was again,” she said confidently.

Eden looked at the two-word message that Angel had sent and chuckled.

***

** AVENGERS TOWER **

** TONY’S LAB **

_*** Prove it. ***_

That was the response that he had woken up to find in his Wattpad inbox, and he had been debating on how exactly to do just that. He looked at the copy of the New York Times that sat on the one the lab counters. Picking it up, he grabbed his phone and walked over to where Bruce was working. He handed him his cell phone. “Here. Take my picture holding this newspaper,” he instructed.

Bruce gave him an odd look. “Why? Are you being held captive for ransom and need to provide proof of life?”

Tony shook his head. “No, I met this girl online, and she doesn’t believe that I am who I say I am.”

“Tony, she isn’t going to be able to see the date on the paper. It’s printed too small,” his teammate pointed out. Bruce grabbed a legal pad and marker off of the counter. “What’s her name?”

Now he was busted. “Eden.” He left off the ‘crush’ part, but the look in his friend’s eye told him that he knew exactly who his mystery girl was. He didn’t lecture or say anything. He just quickly scribbled something on the legal pad. Then he passed it to Tony. “Hold that in front of your chest.”

Tony smirked when he read the message.

_*** Hi, Eden!_ _😊_ _***_

He held the pad up to his chest and let Bruce take the picture…the green giant shaking his head in disapproval the entire time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story requests are now open on my tumblr page. Just search for @maybeitwasmemphis88


	6. Chapter 6

Eden was lounging on the couch with her feet resting in Angel’s lap while she went over the plans for an upcoming charity gala that her family’s foundation was soon going to be hosting. Her mother had agreed to allow the White House to play host to the event. Her father might have been the President, but the First Lady was in control of all aspects of the couple’s social life. Everything had to be arranged to show her parents and family in the best possible light. If Eden’s plans weren’t absolutely perfect, her mother would make her start over from scratch. She did NOT have that much available free time on her hands. She was starting in on the guest list when her phone went off.

Eden grabbed the annoying device off of the coffee table. She rolled her eyes when she saw that she another private message from _StarkIndustriesCEO_ , only this time, he had gotten her e-mail address off of her _Wattpad_ profile and was contacting her via the use of a Gmail account. “This guy is just not going to quit.” Her friendly _Wattpad_ stalker had even included an attachment with his e-mail. Seeming to forget that unknown e-mail attachments were a great way to get a virus and praying to God that said attachment wasn’t a dick-pic, she opened the e-mail and downloaded the attachment. “Holy fucking shit.”

***

Bruce cornered Tony in the tower’s kitchen the first chance that he got the next morning.

Tony took a seat at the table and held up his hand. “It’s way too early for a lecture.”

Bruce crossed his arms over his chest and gave Tony a stern look. “When would be a good time?”

Tony pretended to think for a moment. “How does the forty-fifth of never work for you? I’m completely booked otherwise.”

“Tony, what the hell are you doing, man?” Bruce started to lay into him. “Getting involved with a fan is dangerous and all kinds of stupid.”

Tony grabbed his coffee mug and got back to his feet. “I’m a grown man, and I know what I’m doing.” No, he didn’t, but he would never admit it to anyone.

Bruce shook his head. “Just don’t come crying to me when some crazy lady hits you with a paternity suit.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Banner.” Tony waved as he left the kitchen.

***

“This can’t be friggin happening!” Eden was pacing back and forth in front of her living room fireplace. Every other minute or so, she would glance down at the picture on the phone that she still had clutched in her hand. If you had asked her yesterday to make a list of the people that she didn’t want reading her stories, Tony Stark would be at the top of the list, directly above her mother, who came in at number two. This was her absolute worst nightmare, and it was coming true.

“Breathe, Eden. Just breathe,” Angel attempted to calm her down. “You’re just another fan hidden behind a screen. He has no idea who you really are. Stop freaking out and have some fun with this. It’s what I would do.” She shrugged her shoulders.

Eden stopped pacing. Angel had a point. For all Tony knew, she was some bored midwestern homemaker. She grabbed her laptop, bid her sister goodnight, and beat a hasty retreat to her bedroom.

Once in her room, Eden sat crossed legged in the center of her bed with her computer sitting on the mattress in front of her. She began composing an e-mail to Tony.

_*** Mr. Stark,_

_I’m sorry for being so rude. Some of your fans can be, for lack of a better word, nuts…but I guess that’s what you think I am, huh? A nutty fan._

_I’m happy you like my stories, but if having them posted on the internet in any way bothers you, I’d be glad to take them down._

_~ Eden (that really is my name) ***_


	7. Chapter 7

Tony was back home in California, having a stiff drink on his patio when he read Eden’s next e-mail. It made him smile. She came off as shy and maybe a little socially awkward. Finishing his drink, he set his glass on the wooden patio table and began composing his reply on his iPhone.

_*** Dear Eden,_

_I’m not sure I want to know how ‘nutty’ my fans can be. And, you’re forgiven._

_I don’t think you’re nuts. I think you’re probably just really shy…and lonely._

_Eden, I don’t just like your stories, I love them. I’m not offended by them in the least. You kind of have me between a rock and a hard place, sweetheart. I DON’T want you to stop writing your stories, but I don’t want them shared with the entire world either. I guess I’d like it if you wrote them just for me…_

_Are all of your characters really like you?_

_And with a name like Eden, you with Eden’sCursh1287 as your screen name? An early 2000s girl band reference? I know you are far cleverer than that. The username Eden’sForbiddenFruit was right in front of you._ _😊_

_T.S._

_P.S. The name’s Tony, toots. Please, use it. ***_

***

When Eden received Tony’s next e-mail, she was stunned. Tony Stark wanted her to be his own personal fanfiction writer. She couldn’t believe it, but that didn’t stop her from taking down all of her stories from Wattpad. Then she responded to his e-mail.

_*** Tony,_

_I took my stories down. If you want, I can just send my updates directly to you from now on?_

_Yeah, I guess you could say that all of my characters are all different versions of my (inner) self._

_Shy doesn’t even begin to describe it, which is pretty funny, given the life that I live._

_Love,_

_Eden ***_

***

Tony read Eden’s next e-mail while lying in bed. He wasn’t surprised to read the confirmation of her anti-social personality. Even her e-mails were a bit awkward. It was cute.

Tony found himself intrigued by this faceless Eden. He didn’t understand why, but there was just something about her that drew him to her like a moth to a flame. From reading her stories, he knew that a quiet sweetheart with a kind and passionate heart had to be hidden underneath the cold and serious front that she was currently putting up. He wanted to be the one to bring out the softer and more open Eden. He chose the words in his next e-mail carefully. He didn’t want to scare her off.

* _** Eden,_

_Thank you for taking the stories down. I really do love them, but Loki gets far too much amusement out of them for my comfort. I like the idea of your stories staying just between us._

_I’m happy to know that your characters are really just you in different wrappers. It’s nice to know that my ideal woman really exists. I just wish that I knew what you looked like…_

_What about your life makes the fact that you are shy so weird? Lots of people are shy, even I was shy as a kid._

_Love,_

_Tony_ ***


	8. Chapter 8

It was two in the morning, and Eden was still wide awake. Sitting, once again, in the center of her bed, she was nursing a glass of whiskey in one hand and was staring at her computer screen where Tony’s most recent e-mail was displayed. He wanted to know what she looked like. He was writing to her as though he was interested in her. What did she do? Should she send him a picture? She really needed Angel’s advice, but Eden wasn’t brave enough to wake her at this time of the night. Her baby sister could be downright evil when woken too early.

“Be like Angel,” she said to herself. “Don’t be a coward.”

Eden polished off her glass of whiskey and momentarily enjoyed the gentle burn of it going down her throat and the relaxed feeling that came along with its consumption. She then clicked on the file that contained all of her family photos and scrolled through, looking at the lot. She found her favorite. The photo was of her and her father. It had been taken while her whole family had been gathered together in Hawaii for a stop on the campaign trail during her dad’s first run for the presidency. They were both dressed down because the picture had been taken during one of her dad’s rare off days. Eden was wearing short but not immodest jean shorts and a black tank top. Her dad was wearing white slacks, and a tacky as all get out Hawaiian shirt. They were standing side by side on the beach, right in front of the ocean, and they were smiling from ear to ear. She attached the photo to her next e-mail to Tony. She kept her message brief because she was unbearably nervous. Her small hands were shaking as she typed.

_*** Tony,_

_This is a picture of my dad and me in Hawaii. Now do you understand why it's weird that I’m so shy?”_

_Love,_

_Eden ***_

Eden hit the send button before she could chicken out. Then she grabbed her whiskey tumbler, got out of bed, and headed downstairs for the kitchen. She refilled her glass…twice. Then what she had just done seemed to finally fully hit her. She put her glass in the sink and promptly went back upstairs. Instead of going back to her bedroom, she ran into Angel’s room, hopped on the bed, and started violently shaking her sibling. “Angel! Wake up! It’s important!”

Angel sat up in a complete half-awake panic. “Oh, God. Grandpa’s dead, isn’t he?”

“What?” Eden gave her sister a weird look. “No! No one’s dead.”

“Then you have no good excuse for waking me up!” Angel glared at her, looking more fallen angel than heavenly. “And you smell like a bottle of Jack Daniels, just an FYI.”

“I did something idiotic.”

“I know, you woke me up.”

“Not that!”

“Alright, then you’ve done two stupid things tonight.”

“Angel!” Eden smacked the bed in frustration.

“Just tell me!” Angel snapped.

“I got a little buzzed, decided to be brave like you, and e-mailed Tony Stark a picture of Dad and me,” Eden spit everything out in a rush.

Angel was suddenly wide awake. “Are you fucking stupid?! What is wrong with you!!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at that. The hiatus ended early. Inspiration for this story came back. It’s a politically correct holiday in December miracle!

“Do you want that list alphabetically or categorically?” Eden threw herself to lay down on her back on her little sister’s bed. “What the hell do I do now?”

At that moment, the house phone started ringing. “I suggest you answer this.” Angel reached over and grabbed the cordless phone handset off of her nightstand. “It’s a private number. I have a feeling it’s for you.”

Eden did too. It wasn’t hard for a person to get your phone number when you basically told them your name. It was even easier when that person was a billionaire superhero. She breathed a sigh of relief when the ringing stopped. “Oh, thank you, God.” Then the phone started ringing again. “Ah!”

Angel had apparently had enough. She answered the phone. “Hello? No, Mr. Stark, this is her sleep deprived sister. Hold on just a tick.” She put her hand over the receiver before offering the phone to Eden. “It’s for you, dumbass.”

Was ‘dumbass’ her new nickname? She accepted the phone like it was a ticking time bomb and brought it to her ear. “He…hello?”

“Well, hello there, beautiful.” Tony’s voice was incredibly amused.

Eden had no idea what to say, and, for a moment was saved from having to by Angel rather forcibly herding her out of her bedroom before slamming the door and locking it.

“Tell me, toots, how exactly did you piss off your sister?”

“Had a little bit too much to drink, let slip the whole president’s daughter thing, and then proceeded to wake her up in the middle of the night freaking out about it,” Eden spilled in an embarrassed, monotone rush as she returned to her own bedroom and closed the door.

“Why were you freaking out?” Tony’s tone was curious but warm and friendly. “Do I sound like someone you should be scared of?”

“It’s more the idea of you,” Eden admitted as she took a seat on her bed. “And what you know about my rather embarrassing hobby.”

“Wow. Being attracted to me is embarrassing. That hurts, toots,” Tony teased.

Eden actually smiled at that. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I’m talking about the stories.” She felt her face grow warm.

“I already told you that I like them,” Tony’s voice became huskier. “Why do you think we’re talking right now? I didn’t go looking for your phone number in the middle of the night because I’m not attracted to you, Eden.”

“I don’t know how to respond to that.”

Tony laughed. “How about you meet me in New York this weekend and we get to know each other better? I can send my plane to pick you up.”

Now, Eden wasn’t just speechless. She was mildly concerned that she may have lost her ability to speak permanently.


	10. Chapter 10

“How goes it with that obsessive fan, Sex God?” Loki was trying to get a rise out of him in the lab. “Or should I call you the God of Sex? That lovely story page of hers seems to have vanished off the world wide web.”

See. That right there was why he had asked Eden to take her stories offline. “She’s not an obsessed fan,” Tony defended. “And she took her stories down because I asked her to. She’s flying in to visit me tomorrow.”

“But I’ll be on a mission in Moscow tomorrow.” Loki sounded deflated, and it amused Tony to no end.

Tony smirked. “I know. And FYI, I’d rather be the God of Sex than one of mischief. That makes me the god of very fun times and you the god flaming dog poop and children’s parties, so I’ll take it.”

Loki was speechless.

“Now, unless you want to blow up on your way to Moscow tomorrow, you’ll let me fix the missile control system on your plane.”

***

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Angel was standing in the doorway of Eden’s room, watching as the older woman packed her suitcase.

“It’s only for a couple of days,” Eden rolled her eyes.

“Have you told Dad and Mother?” Angel crossed her arms. “If the press gets a photo of the two of you, and that’s how they find out, Mother will have your head.”

Eden hadn’t thought about that in her all of her excitement. Angel had a valid point. “Can you give me a few minutes to myself, please?”

Once Angel had departed, closing the door behind her, Eden pulled out her phone and sent a text to Tony.

* I’m not sure I should come. If the press sees us, my mother will be pissed. *

Tony didn’t text back. He called.

“Why would your mom be pissed?”

Eden sighed and told him the truth. “Because I haven’t mentioned you, and if she finds out about you in the papers, she’ll get her feelings hurt and make my life a living hell.”

“I have plenty of ways to avoid the press, toots. Don’t worry about that and let it stop you from coming,” he spoke reassuringly. “What’s up with your mom anyway?”

“She’s a bitch on wheels.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not particularly.”

“You still coming, Eden?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”


	11. Chapter 11

Eden was shaking like a leaf when she disembarked from Tony’s private plane. Tony had arranged it where the plane landed at 10:30 at night, and the woman on board was taken to a VIP lounge immediately after she disembarked. He was sure to position himself just inside the door that led in from the runway so that he was the first person she saw when she entered. That’s how he knew that she was shaking. The woman who could reduce him to mush with just the written word was terrified of him, and it disturbed him greatly. He needed to nip this particular problem in the bud now.

“Happy,” he got the other man’s attention. He was standing out of the way, against the wall. “Clear everyone out of here,” he ordered as soon as Eden entered.

Happy rushed to shoo away the three other employees in the lounge.

Once they were alone, Tony reached out and took her hand in his. “Come here, toots,” he gently ordered.

Eden tentatively stepped to stand in front of him. “Hi,” she finally spoke, but her gaze didn’t quite meet his.

“Sweetheart, how in the hell are you even more attractive in person?” He turned on the charm, but he was also telling the truth. Eden was an absolute knockout. “You, my dear, are a goddess.”

Eden blushed and cast her eyes down to the ground. “Thank you,” she said in damn near a whisper.

Tony used the hand he was still holding to pull her into his arms. She gasped as he cupped her cheek in his hand, and he wrapped one arm around her waist. “Look at me, Eden.” Her eyes darted up to meet his. “Good girl,” he shocked her further by dropping a chaste kiss to her pretty lips. A shiver went through her at his praise, and he inwardly smiled. She was that kind of a woman. He had hoped, suspected even, but the confirmation was still a delight to him. “I don’t care how I met you. I don’t care what you write about me. I don’t give a damn who your daddy is. The only thing I care about is that you’re mine now.”

“I’m yours?” The look on her face was both meek and hopeful. Tony took it as a win that she was now willing to just look at him.

Tony tucked some of her red hair behind her ear. “Yep. You’re mine, I’m yours. And no woman of mine is going to go around acting scared of me. It’s bad for my image,” he joked.

She tried to pull away, but Tony wouldn’t allow it. “When you talk about women…how many are we talking about?”

“Uno, one, you,” he rushed to assure her. “I should have phrased that better, but you’re the writer in this relationship, not me.”

Eden giggled and relaxed in his arms. Tony took the opportunity to finally properly kiss her. Unfortunately, just as he went to deepen the kiss, and .2 seconds after he had managed to draw a moan from the beauty in his arms, Happy honked the car horn.

Eden jumped, causing her to headbutt Tony in the nose.

“Oh, my God, I am SO sorry!” Eden looked mortified.

“Not your fault,” Tony held his now bleeding nose. “I’m going to murder Happy, though.”


	12. Chapter 12

Tony didn’t take Eden back to Avengers Tower. He wasn’t an idiot. Even with Loki gone on assignment, there was still no privacy. This was their first visit together. To that end, he had booked them a room at the Knickerbocker, his favorite hotel in New York City – that none of the other Avengers knew that he liked to stay at. He was taking zero chances, determined to have no interruptions this weekend.

The ride there was spent in complete silence while Eden fidgeted guiltily, and Tony held his favorite handkerchief to his nose while waiting for the bleeding to stop. Once they arrived at the hotel, they took a private back entrance and took an elevator up to their suite. Tony kept one arm around Eden’s waist, which seemed to help calm her down, while he kept his other hand out of sight by stuffing it in his pants pocket. The nose bleed had stopped, but his hand was now stained with blood. He didn’t want to alarm any hotel staff or guests that they may come across. The last thing they needed was for anyone to get the impression that Iron Man and the president’s daughter had been out larping as Bonnie and Clyde. Now those would be some fun headlines.

Once in their room, he told Eden to make herself comfortable in the sitting room while he went and cleaned up in the bathroom. When he returned, he saw that their luggage had been delivered, which could only have been done by Happy, but the bigger man was nowhere to be seen.

“Happy took off pretty quick. He told me to tell you that he’ll be at the tower if you need him.” Eden had discarded her shoes and sat with her legs crossed on the couch. “How’s your nose?”

Tony chuckled and took a seat beside her on the couch. “Babe, I’m Iron Man. I’ve had much worse. Have you heard of a little event called the Battle of New York?”

Eden laughed. “I hear about it all day, every day at work. I’m the director of a foundation that’s providing New Yorkers with the funds to repair their homes and businesses.”

“I know,” Tony nodded. “I’ve been donating every month since your family started it.” He had been responsible for a lot of the damage after all.

“Wait…every month?” Some kind of lightbulb seemed to go off in Eden’s head.

Again Tony nodded.

“You’re the anonymous California donor who’s been wiring the foundation $1.5 million on the first of every month.” She was looking at him in total disbelief.

“So?” Tony shrugged. “I donate to a lot of charities.”

Eden gave him an incredulous chuckle. “Tony, your donations account for eighty percent of all the donations we receive. You’re not just donating. You’re basically funding the entire operation.”

“Are we really going to talk about work, toots?” He raised his eyebrows at her playfully.

“I don’t really know what else to talk about.” Eden blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap.

Damn it. He’d only been teasing her. He hadn’t meant to make her feel bad.

“Sweetheart, come here.” He reached out and gently grabbed her wrist, using it to pull her into his arms. Wrapping one arm snuggly around her waist, he used his hand to cup her jaw and make her look at him. He waited until her eyes met his before speaking. “There are those beautiful eyes.” He playfully kissed the tip of her nose, making her giggle. “Now that’s a sweet sound,” he complimented as he let his hand fall from her face, allowing him to wrap both of his arms around her. “Baby, I might tease you a little from time to time, but I’ll never make fun of you. The only person you’ll ever hear me making fun of in a mean way is Loki…and he’s earned it. Got it?”

“Got it,” she smiled. “You know my little sister has a crush on Loki? Of course, she doesn’t know that I know. She just left a google search open on my computer one day as a mistake. I can’t think of any innocent reasons to google, ‘Loki shirtless.’” She repositioned herself so that she was straddling him with one knee on the sofa on each side of him.

Tony had to picture Bruce naked to keep his body in check while they were in this position. “Who dropped your sister on her head when she was a baby?”

“Probably a nanny.” Eden laughed. “Our mother didn’t hold us much.”

Her words had been said as a joke, but they were revealing nonetheless. Eden had called the First Lady a ‘bitch on wheels’ just the day before. She never called her ‘Mom,’ it was always the colder ‘Mother.’ Tony was starting to get a read on why Eden had such an anti-social personality. She had been raised behind the velvet door where children were seen but not heard. When it came to screwing up their children, the First Couple had apparently gone with a rich people cliché…emotional detachment. He didn’t comment on it though. If Eden wanted to share her story with him, she would. He wouldn’t push her. Instead, he smiled at her before tangling one hand in her hair and pulling her mouth down to his so they could make out like teenagers.


End file.
